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After being suggested over the last two issues, Karma's puppetry of the Arena is only formally revealed when Sam confronts her face to face.
The subtext of his response, "Glory! It's a girl!" communicates that we should all be shocked that what Claremont wants us to see...
...even in a Run as celebrated as Claremont's–because the truth is that these stories are, in fact, harmful.
They equate the size of one's body with amoral wickedness, ironic given the specific underpinnings of the mutant metaphor that encourage us to think the opposite is true.
...undermines whatever efforts he's making. Kitty has often been (and will often be, for better or worse) Claremont's mouthpiece for what he actually means to say, and so her use of derisive fatphobic insults also cuts at his point.
Sadly, Sienkiewicz's art doesn't help his...
...fairly problematic storytelling (and wildly regressive, especially considering the more typically feminist nature of his books) is made worse by the reappearance of Claremont's fatphobic characterizations.
Claremont has used weight to signal the "evil" in characters before...
...a monumental send off for the incredibly talented artist, however, is unfortunately marred by Claremont's indulgence of some of the Run's worst characteristics.
Claremont loves his personal tropes–chief among them involuntary body modification–and what would already be...
...its earliest issues looked closer to the Silver Age X-Men series than it did Uncanny. Yes, it featured Claremont's signature mastery of pathos, but it often stumbled through plots as Claremont worked to find voices for each of his new characters.
What should have been...
Claremont/Byrne/Austin X-Men before all the bombast confused storylines and bulging muscles.
Gorgeous blue skies... and finally no smoke! “Day at the Harbour”, 61X61cm.
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...indicative of an evil we've already met–and while we'll contend with Claremont's use of fat bodies to indicate evil over the next several issues–we're clearly on the precipice of the New Mutants' next great villain.
Hopefully they–and Ali–will be able to make it out alive.
While I'm told (hey @olevelo!) that Ali's characterization under Claremont isn't completely congruent with how she's grown in her own title, I found his storytelling choices surrounding the mutant queen of pop compelling–namely, that he dares her to confront the costs of fame.
...is Alison Blaire.
While Weezie hasn't taken over any of the books yet, Claremont's editor and other major Run contributor Ann Nocenti has had her turn at penning a series–Beauty and the Beast–which Claremont pulls directly from to tell the tale of this singer and her song.
...and attacks some of her closest friends. The scenes are hyper compressed, even for Claremont, resolving (for now) after only a few pages once Kitty somehow wrestles the Soulsword from her best friend's grasp.
Twice now have the Beyonder's plans directly impacted Kitty...
In all of this, we can again see Claremont using his characters’ superpowers to form complex, psychological relationships between the person and the power. This takes the “with great power comes great responsibility” concept into new territory of nuance and complexity. 7/7
The two best types of ways Claremont writes Illyana are featured in New Mutants #29–the first of which is when he allows her to be absolutely terrifying.
Illyana is often burdened by shame of her nature, but there are times when she leans into it to great and terrifying effect.
Claremont has argued that the most common question he receives is “where do you get your ideas?” His answer to this question, articulated in a 2003 introductory paper, is not wholly unique, but does speak to the unique challenges of writing in the comics medium. #xmen 1/4
...the mountain scape in David's mind.
More and more, Claremont seems to be hinting toward the sinister nature of Jack (and to a lesser extent, Cyndi)–winking to the reader that our rescue team is in greater danger than they know.
The interactions are unsettling, because...
...are glimpses of Scott's heroism and willingness to stand against injustice at personal cost, but the man's brokenness overrides his nobility following his assault as punishment by the Shi'ar Slavers.
Male trauma is often overlooked in comics, but Claremont has reserved...
Marauders #21 - (W) @GerryDuggan, Chris Claremont (A/VCA) @MatteoLolli (A)@boltonstudio (CA/VCA) @rdauterman (VCA) @Philjimeneznyc - in stores this week! https://t.co/RbYw10R7Zj - #marvelcomics
Once established, Kitty carries more and more of the viewpoint character role in the series. That role is always distributed across different characters, but never equally (see Colossus as example) and Kitty becomes Claremont’s goto. 5/10